Despite the title for the post, I’m actually falling further behind - there’s a game going on as we speak (Live blog: Lynx up 6-2). From this a.m.’s guest blog at OoLF:
Sunday, August 12, 2007
LYNX: “SOME THINGS AIN’T NEVER GONNA CHANGE”*
Photo credit: Zechariah Kiiffner
Nice to see a guy branded as a AAAA player come through in the clutch and put the hurt on his former team. Playing first base last night, Dusty Wathan smacked a double in the top of the sixth with two men on to score the winning runs for Ottawa (box, play-by-play). Wathan spent the better part of three seasons in Buffalo (2003-2005), which included three appearances as a pitcher.
Quick season reset: Last night’s win marks the Lynx first win of a four game series since April when they took 3 of 4 from Scranton. At this point, moral victories matter, and if nothing else, it’s proof they’re still willing to compete.
Woulda’, coulda’, shoulda’: How much of a difference would the presence of Matt Smith, Joe Bisenius, Matt Childers and Brian Mazone for an entire season have made? Sure, Childers (7-2, 5.11 ERA) gave up four runs last night, but he righted himself after a shaky fourth inning before handing it over to the bullpen in the seventh.
Makin’ the most of an opportunity: Matt Padgett continues to impress, going 2-4 last night, including a three run shot in the fourth that momentarily gave the Lynx the lead. (Don’t - hell, you can’t assume the worst about Matt either.)
Ottawa moves on to Rochester for a quick two game set - hopefully it’ll be more home cooking for Dusty.
“We think we have the answers
Some things ain’t ever gonna change (change)
It doesn’t matter who you are
It’s all the same (change)
What’s in your heart will never change
It’s only change (change)” (John Waite)
* We understand that the significance of the John Waite reference will be lost on those who have not been to a Lynx game: it’s Dusty’s intro music.
Labels: Guest Blog, Ottawa Lynx
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With the benefit of having gone through the local and Buffalo newspapers, I was able to locate these quotes from Dusty, Joe Thurston, and John Russell:
Former Buffalonian Dusty Wathan, who spent three seasons for the Bisons, helped grease the skids last night. He hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Lynx ahead to stay.“It’s always nice to do well against a former team,” Wathan said. “I had some great years, here, and a great time, but to come back and do well is especially rewarding.”
Buffalonian?
“It was a pretty good game for us,” Lynx manager John Russell said. “It was the first series we had won in a while. We’re continuing to play hard in this half of the season, and that’s a good sign.”
“We have a good group of guys,” Lynx second baseman Joe Thurston said. “Our record may not show it. If you play hard, good things happen.”
More, as they say, later.
*** UPDATE ***
Quick little “did you know”. Way back on Media Day, I found out about Dusty’s dad, John Wathan. Pete Toms, who I’d just met, was pouring over the lineup of players when he noticed Dusty’s name. “Dusty Wathan? I wonder if he’s related to “John” Wathan.”
Pete noticed my puzzled expression and looked at me as if I had no idea about the history of baseball (blogger: Perceptive fellow). “He was a catcher for the Kansas City Royals. He also managed them for a few years.”
Oh. That John Wathan.
Turns out that even “the boy” knew who he was; “John Wathan holds the single season record for most steals by a catcher.” Come on. Why did he know that? It turns out that John broke Ray Schalk’s 66 year old record of 30 stolen bases. Ray Schalk was on the infamous Chicago “Black” Sox team in 1919 - a story that has completely captured my son’s interest.
Finally, here’s an article about Dusty from 1997 when he was playing for the Lancaster JetHawks.
*** UPDATE II ***
Dusty’s younger brother, Derek Wathan plays shortstop for Tacoma in the PCL.
